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Allegations against Chief Judge first sent to Gayoom in 2005

The first complaints filed against Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed in July 2005 included allegations of misogyny, sexual deviancy, and throwing out an assault case despite the confession of the accused, Minivan News has learned.

A letter sent to President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom by then Attorney General Hassan Saeed, obtained by Minivan News (page 1, 2), outlined three specific allegations against Abdulla Mohamed.

While presiding over a sexual offence case against Azeem Abdullah of Chaandhaneege, G.A.Kanduhulhudhoo, on May 19, 2005, Saeed told Gayoom that Abdulla Mohamed “made the two children who were summoned as witnesses against the accused stand in front [of the court] and asked them to look at the people present.

“He then made the children identify the individuals they were looking at. Although the children said in court that the accused performed the indecent act he was accused of, the Judge made the children act out the indecent act in the presence of the perpetrator and the rest of the court.”

Saeed’s second allegation concerned the hearing of physical assault case on June 6, 2005, against Ibrahim Ali of H. Saaroakaage.

“The case was submitted based on the admission of the accused that he had committed the assault, but Judge Abdulla Mohamed of the Criminal Court dismissed the case, stating that there was no case against the accused,” Saeed wrote.

In Saeed’s third allegation, concerning a criminal case on June 6, 2005, against Ahmed Naeem of Male’ Municipality Special Register, “after completing the sentencing of the defendant, Abdulla Mohamed said, ‘…very few men ever meet women who love them. You may meet a woman who loves and cares for you. You should not run after a woman who does not love you. It is also stated in Holy Quran that women are very deceptive.’”

The Judicial Services Commission (JSC), the judicial watchdog, eventually formed a complaints committee to investigate the cases against Judge Abdulla in December 2009, which met 44 times but had failed to present a single report as of March 2011.

Speaking at an opposition rally on January 24 against the detention of Abdulla Mohamed, Saeed acknowledged that he was “not satisfied with Judge Abdulla’s actions either.”

“[But] he did not have to do things to my satisfaction. I submitted the legal points I noticed [related to the judge’s conduct] to the head of the judiciary at the time, President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. I could have removed Judge Abdulla from the post through pressure. But I did not do it because it was not my responsibility,” Dr Saeed said.

“The constitution today forbids influencing judges. So, looking at the current scenario, the country has gone ten years backward.”

The current judicial crisis was sparked after Abdulla Mohamed filed a case in the Civil Court which granted him an injunction halting his further investigation by the JSC. This was following by a High Court ruling against a police summons on January 16, which prompted police to request the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) take the judge into custody.

Home Minister Hassan Afeef subsequently accused the judge of “taking the entire criminal justice system in his fist”, listing 14 cases of obstruction of police duty including withholding warrants for up to four days, ordering police to conduct unlawful investigations and disregarding decisions by higher courts.

Afeef accused the judge of “deliberately” holding up cases involving opposition figures, barring media from corruption trials, ordering the release of suspects detained for serious crimes “without a single hearing”, and maintaining “suspicious ties” with family members of convicts sentenced for dangerous crimes.

The judge also released a murder suspect “in the name of holding ministers accountable”, who went on to kill another victim.

Vice President of the Maldives Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan opposed the judge’s detention, stating on his blog that “I am ashamed and totally devastated by the fact that this is happening in a government in which I am the elected Vice President.”

The government then requested assistance from the international community to reform the judiciary. Observing that judicial reform “really should come from the Judicial Services Commission (JSC)”, Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem said the commission’s shortcoming are “now an issue of national security.”

“We have been working to improve the judiciary since we came to power, but we have not succeeded,” said Naseem. “We have asked the international community to assist us in this effort several times, and we find that they are willing to help at this point,” he explained.

A group of lawyers have meanwhile sent a case to the International Criminal Court (ICC), appealing that the judge’s detention is an “enforced disappearance” under the ICC’s Rome Statute.

35 thoughts on “Allegations against Chief Judge first sent to Gayoom in 2005”

Allegations against the President clearly outnumber these misdemeanors as well.

He was convicted of several crimes under the past administration and accused of more. Does that mean we should do our best to lock him up outside the bounds of the law?

The JSC does require reform and so does the judiciary. Meanwhile the Executive needs to be overhauled from the top to the bottom. The Parliament needs further strengthening while almost all independent institutions could do with internal reforms as well.

So what are we talking about? Should we hold up the country over a single judge? Why is the Executive keeping him ransom against the laws of the country? Is this not a serious issue either?

Islamic logic is 1+1=2 the formula of Zakir Nair. It is very simple, you go and call someone bastard and ask him can you do better than this to prove that you are not a bastard. The only argument they make to prove their superiority is by asking to do a similar Quran. How can you do a similar Quran, if you do that it will be copycat…… and with this argument and 1+1=2, they defend and prove that Islam is from a God called Allah and they are hell-bent to kill or force others to think their way. We have seen chimpanzees thinking in the same way. If you give a task to chimpanzees to solve, they will not be able to solve by themselves, but if you show them something they will do the something and will always do that without any innovation. You see the same trend in the Maldives. They have a constitution that gives all solution for all the problems. And they are simply applying constitution solution to every issue and have no way out like Chimpanzees will not have a clue to lift a heavy weight with different approach other than what you have showed them. Do you guys want be called Maldivian it is synonymous of chimpanzee????

It is a serious issue. All the serious cases sent to the court are not being judged properly because of this judge.
Are we going to allow him to hold the whole country to ransom?
Of course not and the analogy with the President is ridiculous because the President was tried and sentenced.
This judge stopped the JSC from investigating himself. That is obstruction to justice and if the civil courts cannot deliver justice then the military is the only option.

These are very serious issues. Abdulla Mohammed's detention is a very serious issue as well. But none of these can be resolved by demonstrations on the streets. They cannot be solved by both sides running along to various foreign diplomatic missions either.

We created the whole mess ourselves. No one forced it upon us! So, instead of claims and counter claims infront of the world's diplomats, the sensible thing to do is to talk amongst ourselves, i.e. talk to each other!

There is so much distrust between each other and perhaps the way forward is to hold talks under the auspicies of a "distinguished" person. That may be a local or a foreigner. We don't have to reach too far afield to find such a person. There are lots of potential candidates in neighbouring India, for example.

We need a Maldivian Peace Process! A roadmap to a better democracy than the mess we embarked upon. Both sides have to drop their "activists" and get the technocrati involved in finding a way forward. Lets hope that someone finds the sense in this line of thinking.

I have no idea what the best method would be to remove this infamous judge, what the government is doing right now is not good. However there is no doubt that Judge Abdullah Mohamed is scum and has been making a mockery of Maldivian justice system for a long time. If you are a member of the oppposition or have committed a serious crime you are guaranteed to walk away free from his court.

How long will it take for idiots like JJ Robinson to realise that this is not about Judge Abdulla. The president is going mad and acting outside the law and the constitution. That is the issue here. No one will allow Nasheed to act against the law and undermine our hard-won constitution. The president will have to learn to operate within the law to solve problems. No other road to peace will be sustainable. So JJ please stop spinning your nonsense. Maldivians will not buy it. Just go on the streets and see for yourself, their passion for democracy and human rights. We have no patience for dictators. Nasheed should know that if he has any sense left. Nasheed is rapidly making himself irrelevant.

"But hey, the Judge was made to ‘vanish’ ONLY when he ordered the release of Dr. Jameel – an opposition leader!"

As a matter of fact, and in the name of honest truth, you ought to also reveal the fact that the above is inaccurate (can say it's a lie too, but I don't want to be too harsh). The judge vanished ONLY AFTER his own summons to the Police were quashed by another judge in the middle of the night, under yet more questionable circumstances.

"Even if the Judge is guilty of ‘ALL’ that is alleged against him, that will still not make the abduction of the Judge by the MNDF under direct orders of the President legal."

Here we go, yet again! Are you a lawyer? Even if you were, how do you know you're right? The law is hardly ever black and white. If it was, we wouldn't need lawyers, after all! You may call it an "abduction", but someone else will argue it in a totally different way. There's a lot of room for interpretation here.

On the question of legal experts in the Maldives, I've got to make an observation. There's hardly any that can be considered a stellar intellect. From the former Attorney General Azima, to the self-styled, self righteous, "oh-i-am-better-than-everyone-else", Mohammed 'Kutti' Nasheed, the pattern is quite clear. These are really very mediocre individuals, even by Maldivian standards! Look at their academic records; hardly anything to write about. Perhaps that's not so surprising, given their motivation of entering this profession can be nothing other than the smell of money and greed!

Of course, the judges and their ilk are even worse. We now know that most of them will only really qualify to clean the floors of their Court houses!

When an employee does not fulfill their duties properly then they are warned and if they dont improve they are sacked, is there any reason why the Judge's employer firstly warns him and then sacks him? Problem solved!

"The president is going mad and acting outside the law and the constitution. That is the issue here. No one will allow Nasheed to act against the law and undermine our hard-won constitution."

Uh oh, here goes another legal eagle. Are you a lawyer? A constitutional expert? How did you reach these conclusions? Even though I disagree with the method of Abdulla Mohammed's incarceration, I wouldn't go as far making the claims you are making.

There is only one body that is charged with ensuring Nasheed follows the law. That body is the Parliament. It's just not any Ali or Mohammed or "The Sec" who can enforce that. If you're such a constitutional expert, you should know this.

You had better ask your elected representative as to why he is not ensuring that Nasheed is following the law!

IMO, everyone needs an opinion of their own. Not one fed to them by politicians or by their family. If they can't make up their own mind they simply need to STFU.

I agree that its not very comforting to see the judge being held without a trial. But I also agree that he needs be behind bars, because thats the least he deserves. So, we have a ourselves a 'good ol'fashion' dilemma. I believe we have to choose the lessor of the two evils. Which is keeping that bastard under lock and key.

So Pres. Nasheed is doing that, not that I am totally comfortable with it, which would be the right thing to do.

You should start spinning for the government and MDP, im definite you will do a much better job than the people currently involved in it! On the question of legal experts you name two opposition figures and how they are corrupt and then question their legal knowledge and background,then you start talking about the law and about interpreting it and so on as if you are more qualified, another legal eagle. You forgot to mention other lawyers etc who are in the goevernment and ruling party who seem to be under the impression that Pres Nasheed is the law and is above the law!!!?? Bottom line I dont think it matters much to you if our elected president follows the laws and the constitution which we all have to abide by. I think instead of 'most' of the judges being only qualified to sweep floors, you should instead of writing such objective comments constantly (how much do they pay you?)

Nasheed never had the moral authority to command the Maldivian people as he was elected through deceit and trickery.

Perhaps pending an impeachment he does remain President, Ahmed from Addu, but surely the police have breached the law in more than one instance during the ongoing tumult.

Also, the courts are being held ransom and openly threatened by ruling party activists as well as the President. In such a situation we can claim that undue influence is bearing on the whole institution.

There is grounds for Nasheeds impeachment if only those in Parliament had the guts and the financial motivation to do it (any appeal to ideals and principles would fall on deaf ears hence my use of the phrase 'financial motivation').

No one accepts that this is the ideal scenario. The government has given the JSC a lot of time to reform the judiciary.
What happened? The courts send a court order to JSC to stop it.
Then to the amazement of all sensible people the JSC stopped it. The JSC is the institution that was empowered by the Majlis to do this exactly. The major issue is most people including some lawyers have no idea how these three institutions work.

Could Nasheed order the arrest of Abdulla? I do think there is a grey area in this as he would claim that the judiciary has stopped functioning. He also has mitigating circumstances in that the court ordered the JSC to stop investigating the courts.

Now that is a court order the court cannot put out. They have no mandate to send this to the JSC. In this the court is operating outside of their mandate.
Trust me there are people in MDP who are fools and there are people who are clever and knowledgable. As someone else mentioned somewhere else, they have good legal advisors who are foreigners who are much better versed with the legal and constitutional matters than the "lawyers" in Maldives.

"No one accepts that this is the ideal scenario. The government has given the JSC a lot of time to reform the judiciary."

Exactment! Some of our friends here are a bit clouded in their vision; enough to label me a government spokesperson, although I do agree with modesty that I'll do a much better job of that than the current idiot!. But that's not because I am a fervent supporter of the administration. On the contrary, I am critical of the administration when needed and I support it when it does something positive for the country.

In the current case, my view is simple. Don't don your legal hats on and start putting forward verdicts. I never claimed to know about the rights or wrongs of this crisis and I don't know who is right or wrong! In fact, the law and constitution are very gray and it requires real legal expertise to separate the hype from reality.

In view of that, I always hold on to the age old idea of innocence until proven guilty. I've pointed out factual arguments and asked people to comment, but no one cares about facts. Everyone has their own "legal" opinion and a judgement to go along with that.

I do hope that everyone can see that our judiciary is less than stellar. The final blow came when Mr Abdulla Mohammed prevented Police from questioning him, under very questionable rulings by a Court in the middle of the night. The Police can summon any one of us for questioning as they see fit, to aid in any on-going investigation. None of us can stop that by appeal to a Court of law. Why should Abdulla Mohammed's case be different?

On the question of the President, Nasheed was elected by the people of Maldives for a 5 year term and there is no dispute over the results of that election. Whether he commands a majority now or not matters nil, nada! Unless he is impeached per Parliamentary procedures, he shall remain as President of the Republic until the next general election. I've said many times that the body discharged with verifying whether he is a dictator/law breaker or not is Parliament which was also elected by us!

Given all of that, and given that there is no super body to overlook Parliament, we'll have to trust our choice of elected representatives to do the right thing. If we don't think they're, then we should let them know!

When Nasheed and his friends first wanted to form a party they were ridiculed in the parliament. When him and his few loyal people started fighting for democracy they were labeled as terrorists. He started all this with a very few people, got tortured in jail and more than a decade later he managed to bring the dictator down with the help of many people. Including those who were hiding behind Ablo Ghaazee.

Now that he has stood up to reform the judiciary, these very people cannot bear it any longer. How can Gasim and Jabir support Nasheed when he refuses to grant the under hand dealings they request him to. So the only option for them is to come out against him. This is their last hope attempt.

Reforming the Judicial system may not happen in the next 2 years. Nasheed may not even get reelected. But he will stand down or he will go to jail again knowing that he fought for justice.

All the people who argue on the questionable arrest, abduction, disappearance or whatever the term used, are not against the Government.

I am no lawyer and don't have to be, to know this much. There is no grey area in this, its written in black and white, and in Dhivehi. For arguments sake lets say there was a justifiable reason for his arrest. Even then, the authorities cannot hold someone for more than 24 hours without bringing him in front of a Judge to determine the validity of his arrest.

The debate is not about Judge Abdulla is corrupt or whether the JSC acted within their given mandate in confirming the sitting Judges. it is about the validity of the arrest. I say it is, so what?

I am among those who agree that there are serious flaws in the Judiciary, and that the JSC failed us. The least they could have done is extend the terms of the Judges to a limited period (which they had the authority to), if they were having a time constraint in vetting all the Judges.

Would we see this crisis today if the President closed down the whole Judiciary by sending the MNDF on 3rd Aug 2011 before the Judges took their oaths, citing exactly the same reason he is now.

He could have done a lot more, he could have challenged the decision in Supreme Court, his party did have the majority in parliament at the time. None of this happened, the judgements of the "unlawfully appointed judges" have been enforced until whatever the trigger point to Abdulla's arrest was. This probably was a miscalculation he should have stepped in 6 months ago.

While my belief that the arrest of Abdulla is illegal (High Court and Supreme Court says so), I respect the President for having the guts to do it, he is taking a hell of a big risk in doing this and gambling his Presidency on this. Its very late, but better late than never, and I hope he is able to clean up the Judiciary.

My advice to his supporters is instead of trying to justify the arrest and antagonizing more people, publicize as much proof of the corrupt practices of the corrupt Judges, because the fact is in the court of public opinion you seem to be losing.

This is but only the latest saga of the ridiculousness which is our opposition, by no means the last coming down to 2013.

It all comes down to the people, who allow political opportunists to dictate everything for them including outrage. It is amazing the injustices people have been put through and yet it is now they decide to protest. This man has unashamedly shown his bias, acted upon it, released murderers who went on to murder within a month...yet now is when people express their outrage?

I do not condone arbitrary detention, but seriously what avenue was there left? Unfortunately this leaves the window open for Yameen (God forbid) if ever elected to do the same for more sinister reasons.

It is sad to see how low our opposition would stoop to bring out the least informed, the least privileged people who incidentally have the most to loose with a govt led by our opposition.

With a better informed public who are mature enough to think strategically, more importantly, for the benefit of the society, Velizinee's protests would never have fallen on deaf public ears, but she was ridiculed and humiliated by the very public she served, prompted of course by the opposition led propaganda machine.

I sincerely hope the govt lasts through this latest impasse, no doubt more "protests" to come. The saga of "$", "idols","Protect islam","Ablo Ghazee", what next?

PPM and Yameen realize that there is now way they can win an election now, which is why they are resorting to these low tactics, I just wish their followers realized their evil ambitions too.

PMM fans- It's quite simple really, one year to go, galvanize votes for your looser benighted politicians and unseat the President in 2013, nobody is stopping you!

"He then made the children identify the individuals they were looking at. Although the children said in court that the accused performed the indecent act he was accused of, the Judge made the children act out the indecent act in the presence of the perpetrator and the rest of the court.”

So a lot of you "highly critical" of the government and sympathetic as well claim to support Nasheed and his government as they are once again being labelled freedom fighters for judicial reform.

Let me ask you a few questions.

What guarantees do you have that his actions are sincere except blind faith in his goodwill or promises he made himself?

Are we still stuck in the mindset that a kind and benevolent leader needs to be trusted?

What about the modern system of checks and balances we tried to introduce?

This is my only argument and I will stand by it come hell or high water. Whatever happened to our brave goal of containing the President's powers and distributing them across other institutions so that we could ensure that the man we elect does not become a person we cannot remove.

If the judiciary is to be reformed there must be processes in place. There must be checks and balances and guarantees that the Executive will not be shaping the judiciary to their will.

The danger lies in the destruction of all faith in the judiciary altogether. Use of the military and financial pressure to "reform" a judiciary means that there will be a lot of us who will question the product of such extreme measures would be a judiciary subordinate to the will of the President and his political allies. So we are back at square one.

"What guarantees do you have that his actions are sincere except blind faith in his goodwill or promises he made himself?"

None, which why there is something called a Presidential Election which is free a fair. Or would you rather one group continually on the streets until the "other" president is toppled?

"Are we still stuck in the mindset that a kind and benevolent leader needs to be trusted?"

No, which is why we would like a judiciary respected by all, feared only by criminals.

"What about the modern system of checks and balances we tried to introduce?"

"Tried", is the key word- tried and failed thus far, thanks to the crooks of yesteryear.

"This is my only argument and I will stand by it come hell or high water."

Yes that clearly is where you stand wise man. Do not allow facts, ill actions of your demigods or God forbid rational thinking stand in your way. By all means pick the missteps, ill actions and very minor peccadillo of the administration and execute those intellectual acrobatics to arrive at the definition of "shame", "terrorist", or "legality".

Political parities are unconstitutional said Dr. Munnavaru former AG of former president. Couple of years later Hassan Saeedh interpreted the same constitution and said political parities can be allowed under the same constitution that Munnavaru referred to.

@tsk tsk, most of us who support Nasheed on this issue are not besotted with him, nor do we support everything he does. We are not interested in his faith or the goodness of his heart, far from it. You don't get it do you, it is about us, not about him.....

That my friend maybe hard for you lot to believe, you obviously have to show absolute love, affection and devotion. We have so moved on.....

"A letter sent to President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom by then Attorney General Hassan Saeed, obtained by Minivan News (page 1, 2), outlined three specific allegations against Abdulla Mohamed.

While presiding over a sexual offence case against Azeem Abdullah of Chaandhaneege, G.A.Kanduhulhudhoo, on May 19, 2005, Saeed told Gayoom that Abdulla Mohamed “made the two children who were summoned as witnesses against the accused stand in front [of the court] and asked them to look at the people present.

“He then made the children identify the individuals they were looking at. Although the children said in court that the accused performed the indecent act he was accused of, the Judge made the children act out the indecent act in the presence of the perpetrator and the rest of the court.”

Saeed’s second allegation concerned the hearing of physical assault case on June 6, 2005, against Ibrahim Ali of H. Saaroakaage.

“The case was submitted based on the admission of the accused that he had committed the assault, but Judge Abdulla Mohamed of the Criminal Court dismissed the case, stating that there was no case against the accused,” Saeed wrote.

In Saeed’s third allegation, concerning a criminal case on June 6, 2005, against Ahmed Naeem of Male’ Municipality Special Register, “after completing the sentencing of the defendant, Abdulla Mohamed said, ‘…very few men ever meet women who love them. You may meet a woman who loves and cares for you. You should not run after a woman who does not love you. It is also stated in Holy Quran that women are very deceptive.’”

Worthwhile taking into account!

It seems there are ways out:

1. Start dealing with problems in order of happening.
2. Start from the last in the heap piled up.

Justice needs to be brought back.
A panel of honourable believers of justice and integrity can do it.
Maldives can do it.

But all along the way, this Abdulla Mohamed should remain out of seat, and away from fingering affairs.